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Title: Last Ragged Breath

Subtitle: Bell Elkins 4

Author: Julia Keller

Narrator: Laurel Lefkow

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-23-17

Publisher: Headline Audiobooks

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

Karin Slaughter has called Julia Keller 'a rare talent', and Dennis Lehane has praised her 'remarkable writing'. Now Bell Elkins returns - a high-profile development has been green-lit in Acker's Gap, but with one resident refusing to sell his land, tensions are running high, and when a body is found it's up to Bell to find out the truth.

A high-end resort being built on the outskirts of Acker's Gap, West Virginia, a town desperate for jobs and prosperity, should have been welcome. But following the Buffalo Creek disaster of 1972, where a coal company's mistake tragically claimed the lives of many of Raythune County's citizens, opinions and tensions are running high.

When Ed Hackel, Mountain Magic's marketing manager, is found brutally murdered, suspicion quickly falls on Royce Dillard. An acknowledged loner orphaned by the disaster, Dillard had made his opposition clear by refusing to sell a parcel of his land deemed critical by the developers for access to the resort. With all evidence pointing to Dillard, Bell Elkins, the county's prosecuting attorney, feels she has no choice but to charge him.

When a person dies, his last ragged breath always tells the truth - but is the truth always what it seems to be?

Members Reviews:

This is another good entry in the "Bell Elkins" series of novels

This is another good entry in the "Bell Elkins" series of novels. Similar to the other Bell Elkins mysteries, the story is well plotted and makes good use of the West Virginia setting. In this novel, Ms. Keller weaves a real event--- a 1970s flood caused by a burst dam made of coal slag--- into the plot which enhances the sense of place in the novel. I also like how Ms. Keller has developed her characters over the series. Ms. Keller's characters are not "stick figures" but well drawn characters that the reader comes to care about. I like mysteries where there is a lot of character and not just an intricate who done it. That is why I like these stories.

Well-written, interest-grabbing, ingenious mystery

This is the first Julia Keller novel I've read. I loved her descriptive language, her character development, and her intelligent plot. The irresponsible coal companies' destruction of the gorgeous West Virginia land and the dangerous slurry they left behind, leaving death and destruction in its path, and the dangerous conditions in the coal mines, add a meaningful dimension to this mystery. For the deaths and destruction, these companies and their levels of owners above them, paid little -- Royce Dillard being a pitiful example -- and by putting a face and a name to the damage done, Keller serves readers well. Goldie the dog added a welcome bit of love and kindness to the story. I enjoyed this book tremendously, though the conclusion, while unexpected, was not entirely credible. If four-and-a-half stars were possible, therefore, I would have rated this book that way. Well-done and ingenious mystery. I will be reading more of Keller's Bell Elkins novels.

Love my West Virginia acquaintances, more!

I love Belfa and have loved getting to know her and her story. I am captived by the stories of these coal mining towns. It was, and is, such a hard life but it was, and is, a living for these people who live where fast food, Wal-Mart, and factories aren't. I loved Royce and his story brought tears to my eyes.